I suppose our strongest memory on this subject was the public caning.

One afternoon we, that is, the whole school, were summoned to attend an Assembly in the school hall. An assembly in the afternoon was completely unheard of, and the atmosphere in the hall was one of extreme trepidation - and with good cause. It was alleged that three pupils had been caught stealing whilst away on a school trip. On the stage, one by one, each of the three was made to bend over facing the back of the stage (i.e. with his backside towards the audience) and drop his trousers to receive a vicious caning, not to mention public humiliation. Three strokes each for two of them, and six for the supposed ringleader.

Three strokes is also what I later received, in the privacy of the Head’s study, for the heinous crime of missing choir practice. (See also the page on exams.)

Other recollections are:

Chris Pichon:

None of my kids believe me about the range of punishment dished out by our teachers.

Mr K - Cane/slipper/ his beard!

'Nobby' - slipper (which f---ing hurt)

'Taffy' - steel ruler

Mr L - Billiard cue

Mr G -slipper

Mr L (another one) - Pocket full of pens and anything he could grab!!

Len Westoby:

Remember K’s mild punishment - the "Face Scrub"? Didn't he ever shave?

Bill Champney:

I well remember Taffy and his plastic truncheon, cos I was the idiot who gave it to him! Thought it would make a welcome change from being hit with his slipper. But, he, wily old bugger, filled it with paper and turned it into the ultimate deterrent. He also had a fondness for Bass bitter and a severe dislike of watery beer.

And he once gave me a lift to school on the back of his scooter

Mike Lewis:

Mr. K Had a fondness for using the cane and slipper. One lunchtime he considered the dinner queue to be making too much noise and he slippered all of us (20 - 30 innocent victims).

Lennie Ladd:

The PE teacher (H or S?) who had a cupboard containing a selection of plimsoles and canes. The vicious git let you decide what he would hit you with. Whether you chose the old thin pliable version or the new rigid version they all bloody hurt.

Richard Dawes:

Another unfair one from K, just like the dinner queue slippering, in 2K myself, Bob Cross and A. N. Other (possibly Bern Griffiths or Alex Gardener) watched technicians dump old chemistry apparatus in a paladin of rubbish. We helped ourselves to it and somehow it became a major issue centering on theft. General D was our form master and took the register, after which he said: “It’s my sad duty to tell the class three boys are in disgrace. You know who you are. Report now to the headmaster.” This resulted in the three of us getting a couple of strokes of the cane by K.

P.S. When this page was first published, there was a significant increase in the number of visitors to this site, specifically, to this page. You are all welcome, of course, but I have to wonder what it is that you are putting in to your search engines.

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